More than 100 animals on death row got a chance for a new life Wednesday. They were plucked from shelters in southeastern New Mexico, put on a plane, and sent to places that will be able to find them new homes.
“That’s why our name is ‘From Forgotten To Forever,'” said Foster Coordinator Trysee Wyche said. “Because they are taken from their forgotten life, whose owners didn’t love them or left them in the shelter to die, and we put them to their forever life.”
Volunteers work tirelessly to rescue animals from the badly overcrowded shelters in southeastern New Mexico. With more than 1,300 euthanizations in Roswell alone last year, volunteers know they don’t have a lot of time.
Wednesday, From Forgotten to Forever (FFTF) partnered with the “Dog is My Co-Pilot” plane to get death row dogs to Colorado and Utah, where there isn’t such a big problem with homeless animals.
“Today was fantastic,” Wyche said. “A whole bunch of dogs get to go to a new life. They would have died here if they were left behind.”
Aboard the flight is a group of puppies who were on the brink of death.
“I had trashcan puppies,” she said. “Somebody threw them in the trashcan and they were about dead but they have a forever life now.”
Cities like Roswell are seeing a decline in the number of animals euthanized. Just four years ago they were euthanizing nearly 3,000 animals a year.
In 2017, FFTF helped rescue and transport more than 2,000 animals in the area.
“We’re getting these dogs and cats out of Roswell, out of Clovis, and out of Hobbs,” Felicia Conde said. “I mean it’s just amazing what we can do with a group of people that are dedicated to saving lives.”
The Roswell shelter is only able to keep animals for seven days before euthanizing them. Since “Dog is My Co-Pilot” was founded in 2012, they’ve flown more than 8,000 animals to new homes.
